Agencies call for action to prevent famine in Somalia

A group of charities and international aid organisations
warned Sunday (July 20th) that a new catastrophe is
looming in Somalia unless urgent aid arrives, AFP reported.
"Aid agencies today caution, again, that the signs of a
drought are re-emerging in Somalia and urge for these not
to be ignored in order to avoid a relapse into the conditions
of the 2011 catastrophe," the agencies said in a joint
statement.
The agencies estimate that 300,000 children in Somalia are
malnourished and 2.9 million people are in need of
immediate, life-saving assistance.
Without funding, the charities said, aid programmes could
be forced to shut down even as the number of people facing
starvation in the war-ravaged country is expected to rise,
with 1.1 million internally displaced people the hardest hit.
"Most affected people are still recovering from the massive
losses of the 2011 drought and famine. This time, we must
not fail the people of Somalia," said Francois Batalingaya,
World Vision's country director for Somalia.
The aid agencies have called for "urgent and consistent"
support over the next three to six months to avoid a
recurrence of the 2011 disaster.
As of May, only 12% of the $933 million needed to meet
Somalia's annual humanitarian needs had been funded, the
joint statement said. The percentage has since risen to 27%
-- still well short of target, the agencies added.
The United Nations warned earlier this month that the food
crisis was expected to spiral into "emergency phase" in
Mogadishu, just one step short of famine on its
classification scale of hunger.